Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Books have been burnt throughout history in every culture. Although my research is limited in scope and duration, Ashes, ashes, we all fall downchronicles book burning events, their dates, title of books, and short descriptions of circumstances that led to the burnings. The list is a very small portion of what actually happened, given that many of the records themselves were destroyed. After Gutenberg there were more book burning incidents, because there were more books to be burned. At the same time, many copies survived. We do not know the magnitude of single-copy books that are forever lost.

The primary reason for burning books is fear, fear of new or different ideas and expressions. In the bookI put book-burning rationales into several categories. Some of them are “History begins with me,” “Thou shall have no God other than mine” and “No race but mine.”

Dimension8″h x 10.5″w; 34.5″w when spread out

Structure
Same structure as Pic-to-Word; a variation on accordion/concertina structure. When opened fully, the pages form a wall.

Technique
All images were manipulated and printed. Main body of text printed on paper; section title and images printed on transparencies.